A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION IN THE MAKING
At the present moment in history we stand on the brink of a scientific revolution that will likely determine the course of human thought for thousands of years to come. Theorists all around the world are currently collaborating on the development of a final scientific theory, a unified hypothesis of all the laws of nature, which promises to complete our scientific understanding of the universe. This prospective unified thesis has thus often been dubbed the “holy grail” of modern science.
The new theory is designed to study the behavior of the unified field, which acts as the source of all things in creation. Yet there is no direct, empirical evidence that the unified field exists; for all practical purposes, it is empirically hidden. There is no hope, even in principle, that the unified field or its elementary constituents will ever be observed empirically, either now or at any time in the future. As a result, its existence must be posited on an a priori basis, as we might posit an axiom in a theory of pure mathematics.
This amounts to an expansion of scientific thought such that the objects of scientific inquiry are no longer limited to the forms and phenomena of the observable universe. By consensus, the range of scientific thought has been expanded to include forms and phenomena that transcend all means of empirical observation.
To be honest, the pursuit of a unified theory more closely resembles an exercise in metaphysics than physics. Physics may be defined as the type of science that starts with empirical data and then attempts to derive the local laws of nature that govern that data. Newton first saw the apple fall and then deduced the law of gravity.
Metaphysics, on the other hand, may be defined as the type of science that starts with deductive assumptions regarding the hidden reality of the universe and then attempts to explain the empirical data on that basis. The term metaphysics means “that which goes beyond physics.” Metaphysical theories tend to go beyond physical theories in the sense that they deal with hidden realities that transcend all means of empirical observation. Whether modern theorists are willing to admit it or not, the search for a unified theory represents literally an attempt to develop a metaphysical theory of the physical world.
In actuality, the quest for a unified theory is not motivated by any new empirical evidence. Instead, it is motivated by pure aesthetics—by the innate desire of the human mind to seek wholeness and unity in its understanding of nature. This desire is not new; it is as old as the hills. The ancients also sought to develop a holistic understanding of the universe by positing the existence of an empirically hidden field that acts as the source of everything. Like modern theorists, they also adopted a metaphysical approach to reach this understanding. This reminds us of Ecclesiastes 1:10: “Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look, this is new’? No, it has already existed, long ago before our time.”
There are, however, profound differences between the ancient metaphysical theories and modern unified theories. These two types are rooted in mutually opposed paradigms or general ways of thinking about the world and everything in it.
The old saying “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder” can be rephrased by saying that truth lies in the mind of the knower. The fact is that our preconceived notions of reality color strongly what we see as beauty and know as truth. This applies not only to individuals, but also to collections of individuals or social cultures. We tend to see the universe as a reflection of our own ideas about reality, as though we are gazing through a cosmic looking glass.
Our preconceived notions about reality serve as standards by which we judge things as real or unreal, true or untrue, beautiful or ugly, normal or abnormal—and these notions are largely conventional. They are shared by the majority of the people in a given culture. Here we are talking about general paradigms of thought or ways of thinking that largely determine how a given culture conceives the nature of life, the universe, and everything. Such paradigms tend to underlie the specific theories about reality developed within a given culture. This applies not only to modern scientific theories, but also to ancient religious theories.
MODERN AND ANCIENT PARADIGMS
For example, it can be argued that all forms of modern scientific thought are rooted in a general objective paradigm, which holds that all things in the universe, including all forms of consciousness, are rooted in insentient fields of force and matter operating mechanically. In modern science, the unity of these fields is called the unified field. This general paradigm is accepted as a simple truth by most scientists today. Any theory that falls outside this norm is thus viewed as a form of pseudoscience.
Yet the objective paradigm is a relatively recent development in human thought. For thousands of years prior to the advent of modern science, human thought was dominated by another general paradigm, which may be called the ancient subjective paradigm. This held that all things in the universe, including all forms of force and matter, are rooted in sentient fields of consciousness. In some traditions, these sentient fields were called the gods, and the unity of these fields was called God—but whatever they were called, the ancients invariably agreed that the universe has a sentient or conscious origin characterized by self-conception and free will, rather than mere mechanical action.
In the same way that the objective paradigm provides the basis for modern scientific theories, the subjective paradigm provided the basis for ancient religious theories. The difference between scientific and religious thought therefore boils down to a difference in opinion regarding the ultimate basis of creation. Modern theorists tend to presume that the universe has an insentient origin, called the unified field, while ancient theorists tended to presume that it has a sentient origin, called God.
A QUESTION OF VALIDITY
In both cases, the two paradigms represent general belief systems rooted in preconceived notions about reality. Which paradigm is more valid in a scientific sense cannot be answered because both paradigms are rooted in preconceived notions regarding the hidden origin of creation.
The only way to answer the question of validity would be to make two different assumptions regarding the nature of the unified field and then follow their logical consequences to develop two different types of theory. This would have more than just philosophical implications. The two opposing assumptions regarding the nature of the field would impact directly the type of models that could be used to represent its behavior.
For example, if we assume that the unified field possesses an insentient form of objective existence, then its elementary constituents would have to be modeled on analogy to insentient objects, such as vibrating strings, which are characterized by mechanical action and are governed by local laws of cause and effect. If, on the other hand, we assume that the unified field possesses a sentient form of subjective existence, then its elementary constituents would have to be modeled on analogy to sentient subjects, such as vibrating minds, which are characterized by self-conception and governed by free will.
In principle, a self-consistent theory could be developed on the basis of either assumption. Mere self-consistency, however, is not enough. To be considered a valid form of scientific knowledge, the theory must also be consistent with the empirical facts so that it can be used to predict the facts accurately. No matter what its starting assumptions might be, if one theory provides predictions that are more accurate and larger in scope than the other, then it would have to be accepted as a more valid form of scientific knowledge.
In this sense, we stand at a critical point in history. We now have the potential to develop two different theories of the unified field, each rooted in one of the opposite assumptions outlined above. This would allow us to test the objective and subjective paradigms. Whichever theory wins will likely determine the course of human thought for thousands of years to come. The question at stake is whether human society will continue to operate on the basis of the objective paradigm, which dominates modern civilization, or will revert to the ancient subjective paradigm that dominated the earliest civilizations on earth.
THE MASTERS OF INTUITION
Given the fact that there are legions of modern theorists who have already adopted the objective paradigm, it behooves us to take the road less traveled and adopt the subjective paradigm. In this respect, we are not alone. We stand with legions of ancient sages and seers who likewise operated on that theoretical basis.
Just as scientists are viewed as the knowledgeable authorities of today, so the sages and seers were viewed as the knowledgeable authorities of yesterday. They were the theorists of their time. Yet unlike modern theorists, who are trained to develop their powers of empirical observation and mathematical logic, the ancient sages were trained to develop their powers of intuition. In fact, they were viewed as the masters of intuition.
This training was no trivial affair. It often took the form of a lifelong discipline that involved practicing various meditation techniques, following rigorous dietary and behavioral regimens, and performing symbolic rituals—all of which were designed to heighten powers of intuition. The ultimate goal of this training was to enlighten the mind and enable the individual to apprehend, directly and intuitively, the hidden reality of the universe. Those who succeeded in this endeavor were held in the highest esteem by the ancient cultures. They were viewed as complete men whose minds were merged with the divine mind—the mind of God. Compared to ordinary men, such enlightened souls seemed immortal gods. The ancient Hermetic texts thus state:
They received [divine] Mind, and so became complete men. . . . These, my son, in comparison with the others, are as immortal gods to mortal men. They embrace in their own mind all things that are, the things on earth and the things in heaven, and even what is above heaven, if there is aught above heaven; and raising themselves to that height, they see the Good. . . . Such, my son, is the work that Mind does; it throws open the way to knowledge of things divine, and enables us to apprehend God.1
In the earliest cultures, the enlightened sages played the role of seer-kings and seer-priests, and their words served to guide both the destiny of the state and the daily affairs of the people. Such individuals were viewed as embodiments of the gods or God on earth. This notion gave rise to the divine right of kings, which involved the propagation of what became known as holy bloodlines over the course of thousands of years.
The ancient leaders of society, whether they played the role of seer kings or seer-priests, were renowned for their wisdom, which was born not of empirical experience or mathematical logic, but of pure intuition. The ancient sages claimed the ability to apprehend directly and intuitively the hidden reality of God (the unified field) and his influence upon the physical universe. Based upon this intuitive insight, they attempted to answer the ultimate question—what is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything—by developing various metaphysical theories that were often couched in religious terms.
THE ANCIENT SPIRITUAL SCIENCE
Here, we will discover that, hidden behind all the religious language and arcane symbolism used by the ancients, there was a genuine spiritual science that was once shared by many ancient cultures around the world.
This idea is not new. It has been advocated by a number of independent researchers and authors who have devoted themselves to a study of ancient texts and monuments. Most notably, Graham Hancock has promoted this notion in a series of popular books revolving around a mysterious sky-ground dualism found at many ancient sites. In Heaven’s Mirror he makes this broad generalization:
A great pan-cultural theory of the meaning and mystery of death and the possibility of eternal life illumined the ancient world. Linked to it was a science of immortality that sought to free the spirit from the gross encumbrance of matter. In its own way, this science was every bit as rigorous and empirical as astrophysics, medicine, or genetic engineering. Unlike modern science, however, it appears from the very beginning, to have been as old as the hills—fully evolved, with its adepts and teachers already present and at work at the dawn of history as far afield as northern Europe, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Vedic India, the Pacific, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and the Americas.2
Our concern here is not so much with the historical origin of the ancient science, but with its substance. Yet there is a problem that must be overcome: Unlike modern scientific theories, which are typically expressed in well-defined mathematical formulas and published in peer-reviewed journals, the ancient spiritual theories were expressed in arcane symbolic formulas unique to each culture. To get at the essential teachings of the sages, we must therefore penetrate the veils of symbolism—something easier said than done. Unfortunately, the symbolic systems used by the ancients were a closely guarded secret. The religious meanings of the myths and symbols may have been available to the common people, but the deeper scientific meanings were the prerogative of a small group of spiritual initiates who used the knowledge for their own mysterious purposes, and sought to preserve it for future generations.
This was not a popular or public science; it was an elite or secret science, which was generally passed down along hereditary lines through strict oral traditions. The French mathematician and ardent Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz expressed it this way:
The Ancients never “popularized” anything; to the uninitiated they provided only the minimal useful teaching. The explanation, the philosophy, the secret connection between myth and the sciences were the prerogative of a handful of specially instructed men. Did not Pythagoras wait twenty years before being admitted into the Temple? Did he not, in his own teaching, impose silence on pain of death? Therefore, this teaching was not written down.3
The myths and legends that surround the ancient science suggest that rather than being developed over time through experimentation, it was a body of knowledge received originally from a mysterious group of gods or from godlike sages who walked the earth during the predawn history of the human race. The myths go on to suggest that this ancient, revealed body of knowledge was then preserved over the course of millennia by the elite descendants or followers of the original sages, who eventually assumed the role of the royal and priestly classes during the historical epoch.
Apparently, it was this elite group, possessed of the science of their own “divine” ancestors, who administered the earliest civilizations on earth and shaped those civilizations for their own purposes over the course of thousands of years. Upon studying the sacred monuments of ancient Egypt, Schwaller de Lubicz commented:
Obviously, no one would build such monuments, and in such great numbers, over thousands of years, for uncultivated peasants. The work is of necessity that of an elite, and, even more remarkably, an elite that never ceased to renew itself, an elite that seems to have been uniquely endowed with a wealth of scientific knowledge, including an understanding of the laws of Life. . . . We are dealing here not with an evolution of science, but rather, on the contrary, with an immutable basis . . . from the time of the earliest dynasties. . . . What we see is not the beginnings of research, but the application of a Knowledge already possessed.4
Modern physical science has persisted for a few hundred years and provided the basis for one of the most rapidly changing and turbulent periods in human history. By contrast, the ancient spiritual science persisted for thousands of years and served as the basis for some of the most stable and enduring civilizations the world has ever known.
THE LOSS OF SPIRITUAL WISDOM
Yet neither the original science nor the civilizations founded upon it were destined to last forever. The sages predicted that their spiritual wisdom would eventually be lost. Anticipating this event, the Hermetic sages cried out:
O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an empty tale, which thine own children in time to come will not believe; nothing will be left but graven words, and only the stones will tell of thy piety. And in that day, men will be weary of life, and they will cease to think the universe worthy of reverent wonder and of worship. . . . No one will raise his eyes to heaven; the pious will be deemed insane, and the impious wise. . . . As for the soul, and the belief that it is immortal by nature, or may hope to attain to immortality, as I have taught you—all this they will mock at, and will even persuade themselves that it is false.5
With the advent of the modern era, the memory of the ancient spiritual science began to wane. It was replaced eventually by modern physical science, which has little, if anything, to say about the immortality of the soul. In fact, the modern objective paradigm suggests that consciousness does not and cannot survive the death of the body.
THE PROSPECT OF SPIRITUAL IMMORTALITY
Modern theorists generally believe that consciousness is created by the activity of the brain and nervous system. There is no notion that individual consciousness is rooted in an all-pervading field of consciousness that is eternal and uncreated. As a result, it is presumed that when the body dies, consciousness dies. In this case, dead means dead. That’s it—end of story.
Although thousands of well-documented near-death experiences are often cited as proof that consciousness survives the death of the brain, the scientific community remains largely unimpressed. The latest scientific conjecture regarding such visions of the afterlife is that they are little more than euphoric, dreamlike states produced by declining oxygen levels in the brain during the process of dying. As a result, scientists continue to argue that near-death experiences are dependent upon brain functioning—that is, upon the reduced levels of brain functioning that occur while the brain is in the process of dying. Theorists who suggest otherwise are deemed unconventional at best, and “wacko” at worst.
The ancients, however, held a completely different view: All forms of individual consciousness are rooted ultimately in a universal field of pure consciousness, which does not die when the body dies. In this regard, the ancient spiritual science was rooted in a fundamental conservation principle, which involves the conservation of consciousness. By comparison, modern physical science holds onto the conservation of mass-energy, which states that mass-energy can be neither created nor destroyed; it can only change forms. This is consistent with the modern field-theory view of mass-energy.
Similarly, ancient spiritual science was rooted in the principle that consciousness can be neither created nor destroyed; it can only change forms. This is consistent with the ancient field-theory view of consciousness. Given this principle, we can assert that the type of consciousness possessed by the soul after death may be different from that possessed during life, but it is still a form of consciousness. This offers hope, at least in principle, that the soul might realize a form of spiritual immortality in which consciousness survives the death of the physical body.
Yet the prospect of spiritual immortality was not just a religious platitude to which the ancients paid lip service. It was the dominant force in the earliest cultures and civilizations. It guided not only the affairs and expenditures of the state but also the daily lives of the people. In fact, the attainment of spiritual immortality was deemed the ultimate purpose of life, the universe, and everything. In time, however, this driving purpose was destined to become lost. Even during the Hellenistic era, when the Hermetic texts were being composed, the general view was that the common human had given up on the hope of spiritual immortality and had surrendered to death. One Hermetic sage therefore cried out: “O men, why have you given yourselves up to death, when you have been granted the power to partake of immortality?”6
It can be said first and foremost that the ancient spiritual science was a science of immortality. It dealt with how the individual human mind can become identified with the divine mind—the all-pervading field of pure consciousness—and then expand its range of intuitive comprehension over the entire spectrum of creation and even beyond creation.
Secondarily, it was a science about the universe and everything. This follows naturally from the ancient notion that the ultimate field that created the universe and everything is none other than a field of pure consciousness. When the enlightened soul becomes identified with that field and expands its intuitive comprehension over the full spectrum of creation, it becomes a knower of the universe and everything. It then develops the ability to see what no physical eye can see, to hear what no physical ear can hear, and to know, directly and intuitively, what the ordinary human mind cannot know.
Such enlightened souls who possessed the eyes to see and the ears to hear the otherwise hidden universal reality were deemed sages or seers. It was on the basis of their all-embracing universal vision that the ancient spiritual science was formulated.
THE REVIVAL OF SPIRITUAL WISDOM
Although the sages predicted that their spiritual science would be lost, they also predicted that eventually it would be rediscovered. Toward this end, they wrote their sacred texts, mapped out their sacred lands, and designed their sacred monuments for posterity—for the sake of a future generation that might be more worthy to receive them. For example, the Hermetic sages prayed: “Ye holy books, which have been written by my perishable hands, but have been anointed with the drug of imperishability by Him who is the master over all, remain ye undecaying through all the ages, and be ye unseen and undiscovered by all men who go to and fro on the plains of this land, until the time when Heaven, grown old, shall beget beings worthy of you.”7
Over the course of the last three centuries, many ancient texts, sites, and monuments, which were previously lost and forgotten, have been rediscovered. For the first time in history, we now have access to ancient sacred texts from all around the world. These were once the exclusive province of the elite classes and secretive cults and are largely written in a highly symbolic code language unique to the cultures from which the texts originate. Our goal here is to crack the code of the ancient spiritual science so that the science possessed by different cultures can be compared and evaluated in the light of modern empirical science. To accomplish this we must adopt a heuristic approach.
THE HEURISTIC APPROACH
The term heuristic comes from the same Greek root as eureka, which means “to find.” In essence, a heuristic approach to problem solving involves a way of directing our attention fruitfully toward a solution by simultaneously drawing upon many analogies, models, and sources of insight, which may or may not, at first glance, appear to be related.
Thus good heuristics depend critically upon an appropriate choice of the various systems and sources of knowledge that will be brought to bear upon the problem-solving process. As such, the heuristic approach is more of an art than a science, for it requires some degree of intuition as to which seemingly disparate systems of knowledge might have relevance to a given problem.
In our heuristic approach to rediscover the lost ancient science, we will draw upon two very different and apparently unrelated bodies of knowledge:
In particular, we will draw upon the sacred literatures of the ancient Vedic, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Hermetic traditions, for which there are abundant surviving texts, and the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity, which are our most accurate modern scientific theories.
Although the heuristic approach often results in little more than a general rule of thumb that merely points the way to an actual solution, it can reduce dramatically the time required to reach a solution by eliminating the need to consider unlikely possibilities or irrelevant models.
A SPIRITUAL-SCIENTIFIC JOURNEY
We are on a quest to rediscover the lost spiritual science of the ancient seers. In the process, we will go on a long, spiritual-scientific journey—a journey of pure knowledge—that will take us throughout the boundaries of the known universe and beyond.
Hold onto your hats, because this journey will likely challenge your most cherished preconceived notions of reality. During the course of our travels, we will discover that the ancient spiritual science was a genuine science from which accurate, empirical predictions can be made about the overall organization of the universe. Yet rather than being taken from the perspective of ordinary, empirical observation, our journey will be taken from the perspective of enlightened consciousness on its way to obtain full immortality in the bosom of the infinite.
This perspective results in a completely different view of the universe than that provided by mere empirical observation. More specifically, it results in a layered vision of the universe as a living reality in which each and every thing, over the full spectrum of space-time scales, must be viewed as alive and endowed with consciousness. The ancients therefore conceived the universe as living and rooted in a universal field of consciousness. The layers of the living universe represent layers of consciousness, which can be understood as various universal fields of consciousness. The ancients compared the process of traversing these layers to the process of ascending (and descending) a divine ladder or stairway to the sky. Moreover, they understood this divine ladder or stairway as the path of immortality.
That path is the principle subject of this book. Our job will be to understand the path in light of modern scientific concepts rooted in a field-theory framework. This will involve translating some of the most abstract and profound spiritual ideas ever conceived by the human mind into a concrete model involving a spectrum of self-conscious fields, each of which is characterized by a particular space-time scale.
Although this might sound like a hopeless task, the fact is that the ancients have paved the way. We will see that they possessed a secret system of measured arrangement by which they estimated the space-time scales associated with the various layers. In this sense, the ancient system is mathematical; it can be translated into the language of mathematics—the universal language of science.
Upon inspecting this system and evaluating it in light of modern empirical evidence, we will discover that it can be used to predict accurately the most fundamental scales of cosmological organization discovered so far on the basis of general relativity as well as the most fundamental scales of force-matter unification discovered so far on the basis of quantum theory.
More important, we will discover that the ancient system can be used to predict accurately a hidden vertical symmetry between the two sets of scales, in accordance with the ancient principle “as above, so below.” Given the fact that this symmetry remains unknown in modern theory, the only possible conclusion is that the ancients possessed a genuine spiritual science that rivals and in certain ways surpasses the most advanced physical theories of today.
The implications regarding the origins of human culture and the knowledge possessed by the earliest cultures are exceedingly profound. We are dealing here with a historical and scientific mystery of the highest order.
Our journey will require some preparation. Before we can begin, we first have to clarify the ancient worldview and discuss the general principles upon which it was based.
We must examine the field-theory view of consciousness in more detail and develop a terminology appropriate to that view. In this regard, the ancients commonly referred to the fields of consciousness as universal gods. We can therefore characterize the ancient theory regarding these fields as a science of the gods.
The first few chapters that follow elaborate on a general field theory of consciousness and outline the mechanics by which individual human consciousness can be identified with the universal field of consciousness. According to the ancient teachings, this identification marks the onset of spiritual enlightenment. Yet the mere attainment of spiritual enlightenment marks not the end of the path, but the very beginning. It is only after enlightenment that the real journey begins—the step-bystep journey toward full immortality in the bosom of the infinite. That is the journey we will undertake, at least in principle, in this book.
To prepare for these travels, we first must enlighten ourselves—at least intellectually—regarding the nature of human consciousness and its relation to the field of pure consciousness. Once the general principles have been laid out and the ancient science of the gods has been outlined, we will begin our journey by examining the major milestones along the path.
This will culminate in a new (yet very old) picture of the universe and the role of human beings within it—something about which modern science is largely mute. Whether you agree with the interpretation presented here or not, it is hoped that you will enjoy the journey.